Search results for "Alzheimer"
showing 10 items of 706 documents
Different electrophysiological actions of 24- and 72-hour aggregated amyloid-beta oligomers on hippocampal field population spike in both anesthetize…
2010
Diffusible oligomeric assemblies of the amyloid beta-protein (Abeta) could be the primary factor in the pathogenic pathway leading to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Converging lines of evidence support the notion that AD begins with subtle alterations in synaptic efficacy, prior to the occurrence of extensive neuronal degeneration. Recently, however, a shared or overlapping pathogenesis for AD and epileptic seizures occurred as aberrant neuronal hyperexcitability, as well as nonconvulsive seizure activity were found in several different APP transgenic mouse lines. This generated a renewed attention to the well-known comorbidity of AD and epilepsy and interest in how Abeta oligomers influence neu…
Expression of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits in the cerebral cortex in Alzheimer's disease: histotopographical correlation with amyloid pl…
1999
Impairment of cholinergic transmission and decreased numbers of nicotinic binding sites are well-known features accompanying the cognitive dysfunction seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In order to elucidate the underlying cause of this cholinoceptive dysfunction, the expression of two pharmacologically different nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits (alpha4, alpha7) was studied in the cerebral cortex of Alzheimer patients as compared to controls. Patch-clamp recordings of 14 dissociated neurons of control cortices showed responses suggesting the existence of alpha4- and alpha7-containing functional nAChRs in the human cortex. In cortices of Alzheimer patients and controls, the p…
Effect of gender on mitochondrial toxicity of Alzheimer's Abeta peptide.
2007
The aim of this article is to review the role of mitochondria in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, the effect of gender on the incidence of Alzheimer's disease and the pathophysiological mechanisms involved will be discussed. Mitochondria, in the presence of Alzheimer's amyloid-beta peptide, increase the formation of reactive oxygen species which act both as damaging agents and also as signaling molecules. These radicals, in fact, unleash a mechanism involving the liberation of cytochrome c that leads to neuronal apoptosis. Notably, young females appear protected against the mitochondrial toxicity of amyloid-beta, likely due to the upregulation of antioxidant enzymes wh…
Oxidative stress in patients with Alzheimer's disease: Effect of extracts of fermented papaya powder
2015
Brain tissue is particularly susceptible to oxidative stress (OS). Increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), reduced antioxidant systems, and decreased efficiency in repairing mechanisms have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Postmortem studies in AD patients’ brains have shown oxidative damage markers (i.e., lipid peroxidation, protein oxidative damage, and glycoxidation). Fermented papaya (FPP, a product ofCarica papaya Linnfermentation with yeast) is a nutraceutical supplement with favorable effects on immunological, hematological, inflammatory, and OS parameters in chronic/degenerative diseases. We studied 40 patients (age 78.2 ± 1.1 years), 28 AD patients, and 12 co…
Genetic risk profiles for Alzheimer's disease: Integration of APOE genotype and variants that up-regulate inflammation
2007
BACKGROUND: A number of studies associate Alzheimer's disease with APOE polymorphism and alleles which favor the increased expression of immunological mediators such as cytokines or acute phase proteins. We integrated this information to better define risk and determine the relative importance of APOE and immunological mediators. METHODS: We investigated functional gene variants for APOE, IL-10 (3 loci), ACT (2 loci), HMGCR, IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, and IL-6 found for 260 AD patients and 190 controls enrolled in Northern Italy. A fuzzy latent classification approach, namely grade-of-membership analysis (GoM), was taken to identify extreme pure type risk sets, or profiles. …
Tumor necrosis-factor-alpha -308 A/G polymorphism is associated with age at onset of Alzheimer's disease.
2006
Abstract Pro-inflammatory cytokines and acute-phase proteins play an important role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) neurodegeneration, and common polymorphisms of genes controlling their production have been shown to be associated with AD. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α is an inflammatory cytokine involved in the local immune response occurring in the central nervous system of AD patients. Genetic variation could contribute to the risk of developing AD or influence the age at the onset of the disease. We genotyped 222 patients (152 women, 70 men; age range 60–87) and 240 non-demented age-matched healthy controls for TNF-α −308 G/A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). No significant differences …
Lack of association between angiotensin converting enzyme polymorphism and sporadic Alzheimer's disease
2002
Epidemiological and pathogenetic evidences suggest a strong association between vascular risk factors and sporadic Alzheimer's disease (sAD). In agreement with the vascular hypothesis of AD, the role of various candidate genes for atherosclerosis has been investigated, leading to conflicting results. In order to clarify the significance of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene insertion (I)/deletion (D) polymorphism in a group of patients with sAD, we conducted a case-control study including 149 cases and 149 age and sex matched controls. All subjects were genotyped for ACE and Apolipoprotein E (APOE). There were no significant differences in ACE genotype or allele frequencies between ca…
Association between apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele and apathy in probable Alzheimer's disease.
2006
OBJECTIVE: There have been inconclusive results to date on the association between the Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated whether ApoE epsilon4 allele is associated with NPS in probable AD. METHOD: Data for 197 subjects with probable AD were analysed. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory was used to evaluate the frequency and severity of NPS. Multiple logistic regression models were used to test the association between ApoE genotype and NPS in AD. RESULTS: The ApoE epsilon3/3 genotype was present in 52.3%, epsilon3/4 in 44.1%, and epsilon4/4 in 3.6% of patients. ApoE epsilon4 carriers showed a higher frequency of apath…
No association between the cystatin C gene polymorphism and Alzheimer's disease: a case-control study in an Italian population.
2005
Cystatin C is an amyloidogenic protein found together with beta-amyloid in cerebral arteriolar walls of both patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and conghopilic amyloid angiopathy. Several findings implicate cystatin C in the pathogenesis of vascular diseases. Recent genetic association studies proposed cystatin C gene (CST3) as a susceptibility factor for AD, although other reports did not replicate this finding. We conducted a case-control study including 192 probable AD cases and 192 age- and sex-matched controls to test the association between CST3 and AD. Possible interaction between CST3 and age at onset of AD or apolipoprotein E (APOE) was also examined. No significant differences…
Association of estrogen receptor α gene with Alzheimer's disease: A case-control study
2006
Abstract Recent experimental data have offered the biological background to study the estrogen receptor (ER) alpha gene as a candidate gene for AD. Genetic association studies proposed ERalpha PvuII and XbaI gene polymorphisms as susceptibility factors for AD, although subsequent studies did not replicate this finding. To verify this association in a Caucasian Italian sample, we conducted a case-control study in a dataset of 172 clinic-based probable AD cases and 172 age- and sex-matched controls. Possible interaction between ERalpha polymorphisms and sex, age at onset of AD or apolipoprotein E (APOE) was examined. The xx-genotype of the XbaI polymorphism was associated with the risk of dev…